Choices-Choices Which to buy

Going to get a new Alienware Laptop, and I've narrowed things down to 2 choices, so I thought I'd ask for some input, price for each is within $100 bucks so no consequential price issue. The issue is configuration and last year's 18" vs. this years 17" Which one would you buy and why?

Choice #1
Certified Refurbished, Red M18x R2
Processor: Intel Core 3rd Generation i7-3720QM Processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.6GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
750GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
12 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
18.4 Inch WLED FHD (1920 X 1080) TrueLife Display
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M - SLI Enabled
Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0
32 GB SSDR mSATA Full Card

Choice #2
Alienware 17
16GB DDR3L at 1600MHz (2 x 8G)
AMD Radeon™ R9 M290X with 4GB GDDR5
Broadcom 4352 802.11 ac 2x2 and BlueTooth
256GB mSATA SSD Boot + 1TB 5400RPM SATA 6Gb/s
i7-4700MQ processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz)
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
17.3" WLED FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display

 

GPU Performance for M18x R2 ~ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M SLI - NotebookCheck.net Tech & GPU Preformance for Alienware 17 ~ AMD Radeon HD 8970M - NotebookCheck.net Tech (8970m is the same as the R9 m290x)

In regards to the above the 675m is a rebrand of the 580m, also it not very power efficient as well as the amd card beats this dual gpu set up

CPU Performance is going to run you about the same however in the Alienware 17 it is going to run hotter

HDD Performance night and day difference from the ssd on the Alienware 17 compared to the hdd on the M18x R2

Other stuff is up to you

 

I'd go the 18r2 - the r9 m290x is just a rebadged 7970m anyway. If you really wanted more horsepower you could sell both 675m and almost afford to get x2 7970m's! Easy choice in my opinion.

 

True he could sell them but if he was looking at initial performance the and cards best the sli setup.

 

still waiting on official driver support for the 800m series and the R9 M200 series mobile GPUs before deciding.

 

There is official for the amd cards.

 

My personal opinion is if you are looking for better performance right out of the box then go for the 17. Not only is it a newer design but as others have stated you getting better performance from the one R9 card then the 2 675's. While it is true that you can upgrade those cards it is usually a costly venture to do so, and you have two of them to upgrade. You could as others have suggested sell the 2 675's off and look into 2 7970m's but then you have no warranty on those cards if anything happens to them.

More ram on the 17, way nicer HDD options with the SSD.

My opinion is the 17 but I have a 17 and I love it as well as it handles all of my needs so I am bias haha.....

 

but you'd have to mod the driver's INI to add the card's ID in order to install cos i don't see it as supported just yet.

 

Dell has released official drivers on there driver site. For the amd cards. Drivers & Downloads | Dell US go here then select windows 7 64 bit, go to video drivers you will see amd drivers.

 

If you want SLI performance, and plan to upgrade in the future, go for the M18x R2. As mentioned above, if you want an overall better package (straight out of the box) with newer technology and a new look, go with the AW 17. Both should be able to handle any game with ease.

SSD's and memory can be purchased aftermarket. That is not a deciding factor for me when I purchase systems, but it may be for you.

 

Thanks guys. Between ya'll, some research I did on the video cards, aesthetics and the opinions of several personal friends I ordered this bad boy today:

External System Details:
System Name and Type: Laptop -
Monitor: 17.3" WLED FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display
Color: Silver-Anodized Aluminum
KeyBoard: English Keyboard

Battery: 8-cell Lithium Ion (86 wHr)
Internal Performance Components:
Processor: 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.4GHz)
Memory: 16GB DDR3L at 1600MHz (2 x 8G)
Hard Drive: 256GB mSATA SSD Boot + 1TB 5400RPM SATA 6Gb/s
Video Card: AMD Radeon™ R9 M290X with 4GB GDDR5
Optical Drive: Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader 9.5mm

Wireless: Broadcom 4352 802.11 ac 2x2 and Bluetooth 4.0
Software Included:
Operating System: Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit, English
Office Software: Microsoft® Office Trial - See the attached file for programs included/not included
Security Software: No Anti-virus Requested

 

let us know how the gpu goes cos i am interested in knowing how the gpu runs.

 

Ad to say one more time, official drivers are available, because they are going to ship with his machine.

 

where?

AMD Catalyst 14.1 Beta Driver for Windows

there's no mention of it on the above page is the problem when it comes to future updates.

 

I will make sure to do some benching on it and report here. Drivers do seem to be available on the Dell site if I check ALL drivers for the Alienware 17. Estimated delivery is on the 20th.

 

would rather have AMD drivers....in a decent world.

EDIT: Interestingly enough, I don't see any AMD drivers in their support page.

EDIT2: Ah...i was looking in win 8, which there aren't any but there are for win 7

 

Yes no windows 8 drivers exist .. But glad you found them by following my advice and direction.